"Good job, Alya" Danielle congratulated, when the next day they were talking about the Friendship Day events. "Who was your partner, again? He's not a student here, right?" she asked.
"He's Wayhem. And no, he doesn't go to this school" Alya said.
"He's a huge fan of Adrien, though" Nino said, motioning to Adrien with his head.
"He is…" Adrien said with an embarrassed face. "He can be a bit clingy sometimes, but he's a very kind guy."
"I bet he was super happy that you guys were the first to finish all the tasks" said Alix, eyeing Marinette who was unusually quiet.
"Oh, he couldn't contain his excitement the whole day" Alya said with a giggle. "There was a riddle that I don't think I could've solved in time if it wasn't for him. I wouldn't have been the first one to arrive at the wax museum without him."
"Wait... " Dani started thinking. "So, you were at the wax museum…?" she said with a questioning tone, earning a nod from Adrien. "We were at the museum with Luka as well."
"You were paired with Luka?" Adrien asked.
"Yeah. Like, our second or third task was to go to the museum, but it looked like it was closed" she said with a fake hurt voice.
"Ohh, that's sneaky" said Rose. "They made it seem like it wasn't the final destination, AND included it in the riddles as well?" she wondered, with a look of realisation.
As a response, Juleka mumbled something with a small smile. Something most of her classmates didn't understand.
"Yeah" Danielle said with an embarrassed laugh. "But… I mean, we did abandon the game before we could finish it" she said to Juleka.
"You did?" Nino asked, surprised. "Ondine and I also thought that it had too many steps" he continued. "But she was quite interested in meeting our super model" he teased Adrien.
"Come on, Nino" Adrien said, embarrassed, making his friends giggle.
"Why did you give up on the game?" asked Marinette, who couldn't believe why anyone would not want to meet Adrien as a reward for the game.
"Did you not want to meet Adrien?" Rose asked in a concerned voice, making Danielle feel warmth and possibly redness creep up on her face.
"He…" she started, looking around her classmates. "He's right there" she said, pointing at him, making Adrien and Juleka laugh.
"I guess meeting me is not an extraordinary reward for you guys" Adrien said jokingly.
"No, NO!" Marinette stuttered. "I mean, yes, it is. Absolutely" she forced an awkward smile, making the girls look at each other, and Adrien look at her with a weird look on his face.
"And how was your Friendship Day, Marinette?" asked Alix suddenly.
As if she just opened a tap, the words started to flow from Marinette about her exciting and fun clue-hunting day with Kagami. Telling about how Kagami's mother got akumatised but was saved by Ladybug, Cat Noir and a dragon-themed superhero, Ryuko.
Listening to her, Danielle couldn't decide if Marinette actually liked this girl she was talking about or not. One moment she seemed to happily talk about their experience together, and she seemed to try very hard saying anything nice the next. But Adrien seemed very excited and happy about Marinette and the other girl becoming good friends thanks to Friendship Day. He seemed a bit… dense when it came to communication and relationships. Thinking about it, she wondered if any of the guys here realised that Marinette liked Adrien. As a girl, it seemed pretty obvious. Thinking about it, if Marinette's infatuation seems so obvious to her… Maybe her crush on Luka… She had a really hard time not looking at Juleka at that moment.
ˇˇˇˇˇ
Ladybug, Cat Noir, Viperion and Rena Rouge were in a standoff against a villain named The General, equipped with a sabre that made everyone who got hit turn into one of his soldiers. Around 20 bystanders were already under his control, ready to attack when commanded. Thankfully, the soldiers didn't have any weapons, unless they used some objects in their vicinity. Summoning the Lucky Charm, Ladybug received a music box.
"A music box? What am I supposed to do with this?" Ladybug asked, looking around for clues.
As part of their plan, Ladybug suggested making teams to lead some of the soldiers away from The General and help other people get out of his way as well so no more people could be turned. Rena Rouge used her ability to create an illusion of Cat Noir and Viperion who successfully lured some of them away, and the illusions of Ladybug and herself got some other soldiers to chase them. The rest of the people with the akumatised villain made their way through the streets of Paris, unaware of Ladybug's plan.
"I know that you really liked the other house" Mr. Proulx said to Danielle, getting out of the car. "So did I, to be honest. But it wouldn't hurt to check out some other places as well. Maybe we see some that we prefer to the first one."
"Well, you can try to find a better one…" Dani teased her dad, who was already on the phone with the realtor.
"He's going to be late. The keys are under the doormat" Mr. Proulx said after finishing the call. "Is this a habit here as well?" he wondered.
"Should we just go in?" Dani asked. "Isn't that weird?"
"He said we could just go in and check things out if we wanted" her father replied. "Oh, car keys" he said suddenly, getting back to the car for his keys.
"Alright… Still, I'd prefer waiting for him to…" she stopped as she saw three basically identical men dressed as soldiers, slowly walking towards her. "Ooookay…?"
"Wait for him to what?" her father asked, as he casually passed her by, entering the house.
"Dad?" she questioned, looking after her father with confused eyes. "Did you not see…?" she sighed. "Of course he didn't see soldiers marching on a completely empty street."
She felt Ladybug using the Lucky Charm earlier and at this moment, she thought about changing for a second. Allegedly, these akumatised people couldn't remember what happened to them while they were turned. Still, who knows. Somebody might be around the corner or see through the windows… If these guys were roaming the city Ladybug and Cat Noir could also be around.
"Hello?" she asked, taking one step backward.
They didn't seem to care or understand her. They just walked toward her with motionless faces. At least none of them had any kind of weapons. As they got closer, one of them already stretched his arms out, like a zombie in one of those old horror movies, just waiting to get closer to grab her.
"I warn you guys… I've learnt aikido back in Japan" she said, slowly taking another step behind, trying to position herself to possibly fight off these guys.
They didn't look like the main villain. Maybe they were some kind of minions of the actual akumatised person. Just before she had to actually do something to defend herself, she saw a lyre spinning in the air around her, sending the soldiers to the ground, then turning back to someone behind her, like a boomerang. Looking behind herself, she saw the snake-themed superhero she previously met. She didn't remember what his superhero name was, though.
There were things related to her power that her grandmother failed to tell her. Thinking about it, maybe Granny'd never had the chance to meet other Miraculous users, so her understanding of the powers of the Dragonfly Miraculous was not complete. Granny had the Miraculous for a long time and had the chance to use and get to know it. But apparently, even she didn't know everything. She told Dani about the heightened senses and the strange intuitions. She'd always felt certain… resonances that were unique for each person she met. And when meeting Ladybug for the first time in person, it was a shock to Dani that she recognised who the Miraculous user was. Recognised is not the correct word. But she could definitely identify the vibrations Ladybug gave off. She'd felt this resonance before. The Miraculous can hide who they really are from the eyes. But this was not something she could see. It was a strange feeling, not comparable to anything a simple person could feel. And right now, she knew that she felt these vibrations before…
"Thanks…" she said with a questioning intonation.
"Viperion" he replied, smiling. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah…" she breathed out in awe, looking back at the three soldiers laying on the ground. "I guess no aikido for you guys" she added, making Viperion grin.
"Hope you don't mind my interruption" he added, stepping closer, putting his hand on her shoulder. "You should get into safety."
"I… uhh… yeah" she said, perplexed, biting her bottom lip. "I'll… Get into the house. After my father…" she said, motioning to the house her father entered.
"Do you live here?" he asked.
"No, no… uhh… we're just looking for a new place" she replied, confused, why he's making small talk with her in the middle of this situation.
"Well, good luck finding one" he smiled confidently. "And maybe try not to get into an altercation next time with the villains" he added with a sly grin.
"Huh" Dani replied with her mouth hanging open. "Yeah, great advice from a guy running around town in a bodysuit and with a lyre fighting enemies along with Ladybug and Cat Noir" making him laugh before he disappeared to help carry out Ladybug's plan.
She just stood in place, dumbfounded for several seconds. Of course he would be chosen to wield a Miraculous. He was kind and intelligent and just awesome and...
"What have I gotten myself into…" Dani whispered as she entered the house after her oblivious father.
ˇˇˇˇˇ
For biology class, they had to work in small groups to do projects on a given topic during the weekend. Juleka, Nathaniel and Danielle were in one group, and their task was to make a 3-part poster about the digestive system. They already put together most of the material during the week, and agreed to meet up at the Liberty Saturday to finish it. Juleka was preparing for their homework session with Luka tuning the guitars for the Sunday practice.
"How's your project going so far?" he asked, as Juleka was making room on the desk.
"Good" she mumbled. "I think we can finish it today. We won't use cut-out pictures, because Nathaniel will draw everything."
"Wow" Luka replied. "It must be a lot of work for him."
"That's what Danielle and I thought, too" Juleka said, sitting down next to her brother. "Danielle told him that there's no need to draw everything, we could just use some photos. But he was happy to do the all of them."
"He must really love drawing" Luka said with a smile.
Juleka continued to mumble about the things they already finished and what other things they have to do with Danielle while Nathaniel draws. Listening to his sister, Luka was happy that her sister found a new friend who she gets along with so well.
"And she's also bringing me a book" she added with excitement.
"What kind of book?" Luka asked, putting the guitar down as he leaned forward with interest.
And as a reply, Juleka started to talk about the book she can't wait to read, a mystery/thriller story about real life events that happened in a nearby country during the past century. From her story, it turned out that Danielle had rather similar interests with Juleka. Jule was into make-up, Danielle liked nail art. Jule talked about how Danielle made her nails look similar to the pin that Mylène made her after receiving it. She also liked horror stories and movies, and had a collection of such movies and books. He remembered Juleka first talking about Danielle at school, and thinking back to "their" meeting the other day, he thought she was bold and intriguing. And when she was there doing the project with Jule and Nathaniel, these feelings of her were just reassured. For most of their stay, Luka didn't bother them, understanding the importance of their school work, especially as Nathaniel was rather shy at first. But after an hour or so, he joined them, asking how they were doing or if they needed any help with anything.
"It feels like something is missing" Juleka said, thinking.
Looking at the posters, Luka saw that the drawings were already finished on two, the different parts were labeled and a short caption was added to each part. The title was complete, with their names and the date added.
"Looks fine to me" Luka said. "You did a good job."
"It's missing some food" Danielle added bluntly.
"We're not taping food to it" Juleka said with a sigh, making Nathaniel shake his head with a smile. "Nor do we put coffee cup stains on it."
"Why not?" asked Luka with a grin, enjoying the absurdity of the idea.
"Exactly" Danielle snapped. "The first part is about food and eating. Nobody would expect us to put food on it. Like, things that won't spoil."
"It sounds fun" commented Luka.
"It sounds insane" said Juleka with a smile.
"Yes" Dani said, looking at Luka. "And yes" she added, looking at Jule. "Look, they put food items to, like… umm… when they make these gel nails. You can encapsulate things in it. And I've seen spices and small candies put into gel nails."
"You must be joking" said Nathaniel with a hint of disbelief.
"I'm serious. Check it on your phone" Dani insisted.
And they did. And she was right.
"Unbelievable" Nathaniel said, still in disbelief, even though he saw it with his own eyes.
"It's so dumb" Dani laughed. "It's amazing!"
So, the rest of the time was spent by Nathaniel finishing the last part of the drawings, and Dani, Jule and Luka looking for food items and taping/glueing them to the poster. Was it a stupid idea? Yes, it was. Did Luka have anything to do with the project? No, he didn't. Did he enjoy himself helping the girls? Absolutely. Naturally, he loved spending time with his sister, and he also liked having Danielle around. She was awkward sometimes, but she was quick to counter his teasing remarks, keeping a vague playful conversation.
"Maybe you could use these to spice things up a bit" Luka said, bringing some bay leaves, star anise, paprika and turmeric powder from the kitchen.
"Perfect thyming" Danielle said. "We just finished with this section."
"Spices?" Nathaniel asked. "That's a good idea. The colours and different shapes will make it more interesting."
"They pepper look good on the poster…" Danielle said with a fake threatening voice.
"You're just salty because it wasn't your idea" Luka said with a triumphant smile.
"I beg your parsley, what you just said?" replied Danielle with a grin.
"Please, stop this" Juleka sighed, with Nathaniel quietly smiling.
"If the spices don't work, we can chive something else" Danielle shrugged, eyeing Luka.
"How long do you think we can curry this on for?" Luka asked after a chuckle, trying to think of more dumb puns to say.
"I... uuhh… I don't think I cayenne go on like this forever" Dani replied after a couple of seconds of thinking.
"I see you're cumin to your senses" Luka said, earning a giggle from Danielle.
"Okay, that's enough" Juleka finally said, ending the exchange.
After they finished with the project, Danielle helped Jule to put it to a safe place until Monday, and both her and Nathaniel promised to come by the morning so they would help bring it to school. While cleaning up after themselves, Danielle's eyes lingered on the various guitar picks on Luka's wall.
"That's an impressive collection" she said approvingly.
"Thanks" he said with a proud half-smile. "Is there anything you collect?" he asked, already knowing the answer from Jule.
"Yeah" she said, inhaling sharply. "Old, bad horror movies. You know, the ones that are so bad that they're considered good."
"I… No, I don't think I understand" he replied with a confused grin.
"Do you have The Attack of the Teenage Zombie Aliens?" Juleka asked curiously.
"The what?" Luka asked in surprise, making Danielle laugh.
"I sure do" Dani said. "Maybe you guys could come over and we could watch it after we got to our new place."
"Oh, are you moving?" Luka asked, as if he didn't know that they were looking for a house.
"Yeah. Soon. It's a bit further from the school, but it's much bigger than the current apartment" Danielle elaborated.
"Awesome" Juleka smiled. "I can't wait."
At home, Danielle was just laying on the bed, staring at the ceiling, thinking back of the fun study session. She never thought these words can be in the same sentence. Fun and study...
"You seem really happy" Buzzy said, laying down next to her. "I'm glad you could finish the project."
"Yeah, so am I" sighed Dani. "But that's not why I'm in such a good mood."
"Hihi, I figured" Buzzy added with a laugh. "Luka is such a funny boy."
"It's a shame he likes someone else" Dani said with a bittersweet smile. "But I like being around him anyway" she said with a slightly sad voice.
Glancing at her desk, she saw all the material she still had to study that weekend. With a sigh, she patted Buzzy as she went on to finish studying, so she could start packing afterward.
